It is known to process unfinished vehicle body parts to produce finished ready to use parts by thermoforming a decorative laminate to mold the laminate onto the unfinished surface of the body part.
Other prior art includes the following patents in which:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,028,163 discloses a process for stretching the length of a foil of synthetic plastic to assure that the foil material remains wrinkle-free as it is applied to an underlying door panel. In particular, the specified tensioning method assures that the foil remains under tension until it is wrapped around the edge of a door panel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,570 discloses a metal coated plastic product with a polymeric carrier film. The metal coating is vacuum deposited and covered with a protective top coat to protect the vacuum deposited metal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,704 discloses a basecoat/clearcoat system which can be applied to either a metal or plastic substrate to protect the substrate. The clearcoat top layer is a urethane modified polyester. The basecoat is a urethane modified polyester including a pigment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,887 discloses a vehicle body coating composition which includes a uniformly dispersed pigment oriented by use of a chlorinated polyolefin.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,745 discloses a method to tension a laminate of polyester material bearing a layer of metallic material both bonded to a substrate of PVC material. The tensioning occurs below the annealing temperature of the laminate and serves to strain the laminate to cause it to shorten upon reheating but to remain stable during shipping and storage.
Other patents relating to polymer laminates with decorative features including metallic coatings are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,660,200; 4,235,949; 4,330,352; 4,362,775; and 4,563,372.
None of the above references discloses a process for preforming the laminated structure in a manner which will produce gloss or color hue contrast in the molded product.